Jonas Valanciunas has been perhaps the Toronto Raptors’ best player through two games against the Miami Heat. The now-24-year-old has scored 39 points on 17-of-25 shooting, grabbing 26 rebounds, and adding five assists, five steals, and four blocks. The Raptors have outscored the Heat by 27 points with him on the floor and been outscored by 29 in the small minutes he’s sat.
It’s been enough that the talk heading into Game 3 is all about how to get Valanciunas even more involved, and compliments from his teammates have been flowing like Krupnikas.
“You can honestly see who’s the dominant big out there when it comes to rebounding and scoring,” DeMar DeRozan said Thursday.
“He’s dominating his matchup and that’;s what we need him to do,” DeMarre Carroll agreed Friday.
That caught the attention of Valanciunas’ counterpart in the post, Hassan Whiteside. One of the league’s premiere rim protectors, Whiteside, too, has had a huge impact on the series, with the Raptors’ ball-handlers fundamentally shifting their approach at the offensive end to avoid him. Hobbled a little by injury, Whiteside has totalled 22 points on 8-of-14 shooting, with 30 rebounds, one assist, five steals, and four blocks.
Numbers or otherwise, Whiteside doesn’t think the case is all that clear-cut.
“Last time I checked, I’m averaging more rebounds,” Whiteside said at practice Friday, per Ira Winderman. “I like that he says that…I mean, he’s taking way more shots than I’m taking. It’s not even close. I can’t pass the ball to myself.”
The Raptors probably don’t need to give Whiteside motivation fodder – “You don’t want to poke a bear,” as Dwane Casey put it – but an angry Whiteside could be an over-aggressive Whiteside. Or a devastating one. Valanciunas deserved the credit, to be sure, but Whiteside’s been just fine, too…tell him I said that, so he doesn’t come out as angry.
